Page 51 of Finding Love in Micklewick Bay

‘I’m fine.’

He quickly scrutinised her face. ‘You sure?’

‘Positive. I’ll bring you up-to-speed with everything later.’

‘Okay.’ He nodded, smiling. Moments later, he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her deeply, the fizz of excitement now a blaze of fireworks inside her.

‘Wow!’ she said dizzily, when they finally pulled apart.

‘Does six thirty suit you?’ he asked, his eyes dark with lust.

‘Perfect.’Now would be good actually!

‘Good.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll see you then.’ He went to walk away, but turned back, evidently having second thoughts. ‘I just needanother one of these…’ With that, he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. ‘Mmm. That’s better,’ he said before flashing her a smile and heading out of the door.

Stella stood rooted to the spot, her lips burning, as she tried to bring her swirling emotions under control, something she was finding almost impossible to do.

The time for her to head over to Alex’s apartment had finally arrived, much to Stella’s relief. Despite everything that had been going on, it was his delicious kisses that had dominated her thoughts that afternoon, the warmth of his lips, the graze of his stubble. It was intoxicating. Taking the time to prepare herself, she’d showered and washed her hair, which she’d styled in loose waves before carefully reapplying her “no-make-up” make-up. That done, she’d put on a dusky-pink wrap dress that seductively accentuated her curves.

Adding a spritz of perfume and a final slick of lip gloss, she grabbed a bottle of Pinot Grigio from the fridge and left her apartment, a thrill dancing around inside her.

‘Mmm. You smell so good.’ Alex didn’t waste a moment, kicking his apartment door shut and pulling Stella close to him. His muscular body pressed against her combined with the hot kisses he was delivering sent her pulse sky-rocketing.

The feeling of Fred nudging at her legs pulled Stella out of the moment. She glanced down to see two eager eyes looking up at her. ‘Hello, young man, are you feeling left out?’ she said with a giggle.

Fred wagged his tail excitedly and gave a happy whimper.

‘Ah, good old Fred, always likes to be in the thick of it, don’t you, fella?’ Alex released Stella from his arms so she could ruffle the Labrador’s ears.

She was grateful for the opportunity to bring her raging hormones under control. If Alex kissed her once more like that, he was in serious danger of being dragged off to the bedroom, but it would be a shame if it meant the food he’d been preparing would be burnt while she had her wicked way with him, she reasoned. ‘There are some delicious smells coming from the kitchen.’ She stood up straight, ignoring the urges of her hormones that were causing such mayhem in her body, focusing instead on the mouth-watering aroma of food that was dancing around her nose and setting her taste buds tingling.

Apparently oblivious to the wayward thoughts his kisses had aroused in her, Alex said, ‘So to start, we have baked camembert, garnished with caramelised onion chutney and a sprig of rosemary, accompanied by flatbreads. That’s followed by pan-roasted hake, new potatoes and salad for main.’

Stella groaned with delight. ‘Wow! Sounds heavenly.’

‘There’s crème brûlée for afterwards, if you can manage it. Though I can’t take credit for that, I picked it up from the deli earlier.’

‘I’ve always got room for pudding, and anything from the deli is amazing.’ Stella smiled, her lust shrinking to a background simmer.

Alex took her hand and led her through to the living area, gentle music tinkling away in the background. Her eyes landed on the table set for dinner where a candle flickered invitingly in a mini lantern, casting its glow over the rustic crockery and linen napkins. That Alex had gone to such effort was touching.

‘Glass of wine?’ he asked.

‘Love one. Oh, and can I give you this?’ She handed him the bottle she’d brought.

‘Thanks, but you needn’t have. Just you would’ve been enough.’ The look he shot her made her tingle from her head all the way to her toes.

‘Sweet talker,’ she said with a smile, struggling to quash her desire that was on the rise again.

‘It’s true.’

Stella followed him to the kitchen where he poured her a glass of wine. She watched as he smothered a bowl of potatoes in butter, threw a sprinkling of freshly chopped herbs over them and popped them in the oven. ‘They shouldn’t take long,’ he said.

Perched on the bar stools at the island, Alex asked, ‘So, how are things with you? I have to say, you look much brighter than you did when I saw you on the stairs with your mum.’

‘Things are good, thanks.’ She took a sip of her wine, thinking how right it felt to be here with him. ‘My mum and I had a real heart-to-heart, cleared the air about a lot of things – namely the enigmatic Johan de Groote.’

‘Yeah, I can imagine he provided quite a bit of fodder for discussion.’

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